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1 'Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple; yes, the angel of the covenant, for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth. |
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2 Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like fullers' alkali. |
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3 He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they can make the offering to Yahweh with uprightness. |
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4 The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be acceptable to Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old. |
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5 I am coming to put you on trial and I shall be a ready witness against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, and against those who oppress the wage-earner, the widow and the orphan, and who rob the foreigner of his rights and do not respect me, says Yahweh Sabaoth. |
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6 'No; I, Yahweh, do not change; and you have not ceased to be children of Jacob! |
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7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have evaded my statutes and not observed them. Return to me and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. You ask, "How are we to return? |
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8 Can a human being cheat God?" Yet you try to cheat me! You ask, "How do we try to cheat you?" Over tithes and contributions. |
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9 A curse lies on you because you, this whole nation, try to cheat me. |
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10 Bring the tithes in full to the treasury, so that there is food in my house; put me to the test now like this, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out an abundant blessing for you. |
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11 For your sakes, I shall forbid the locust to destroy the produce of your soil or prevent the vine from bearing fruit in your field, says Yahweh Sabaoth, |
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12 and all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delights, says Yahweh Sabaoth. |
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13 'You have said harsh things about me, says Yahweh. And yet you say, "What have we said against you?" |
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14 You have said, "It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walking mournfully before Yahweh Sabaoth? |
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15 In fact, we now call the proud the happy ones; the evil-doers are the ones who prosper; they put God to the test, yet come to no harm!" ' |
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16 Then those who feared Yahweh talked to one another about this, and Yahweh took note and listened; and a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who feared him and kept his name in mind. |
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17 'On the day when I act, says Yahweh Sabaoth, they will be my most prized possession, and I shall spare them in the way a man spares the son who serves him. |
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18 Then once again you will see the difference between the upright person and the wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. |
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19 'For look, the Day is coming, glowing like a furnace. All the proud and all the evil-doers will be the stubble, and the Day, when it comes, will set them ablaze, says Yahweh Sabaoth, leaving them neither root nor branch. |
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20 But for you who fear my name, the Sun of justice will rise with healing in his rays, and you will come out leaping like calves from the stall, |
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21 and trample on the wicked, who will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says Yahweh Sabaoth. |
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22 'Remember the Law of my servant Moses to whom at Horeb I prescribed decrees and rulings for all Israel. |
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23 'Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of Yahweh comes. |
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24 He will reconcile parents to their children and children to their parents, to forestall my putting the country under the curse of destruction.' |
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